Projects

Word Production: the interpretation of context effects in object naming in terms of models of word production

Wido La Heij (with dr. P.A. Starreveld, UVA)

Models of word production differ in many ways, but the most influential ones share the assumption that the selection of a to-be-produced word (lexical selection) is a competitive process. Stroop-like interference effects, like the observation that the word CHAIR induces more interference in naming the picture of a table than the word HORSE (semantic interference), is attributed to a stronger competition between the words CHAIR and TABLE than between HORSE and TABLE.

In 2007, this assumption was challenged by Caramazza and coworkers at Harvard University. They argued that lexical selection is non-competitive and that the semantic interference in Stroop-like tasks is due to a the longer time necessary to reject the word CHAIR than the word HORSE at the response level. Our project addresses this issue (Finkbeiner & Caramazza, 2006, Cortex; La Heij, Kuipers & Starreveld, 2006, Cortex; Starreveld, La Heij, & Verdonschot, 2013, LCP; Starreveld & La Heij, 2016, PB&R).